:laugh:

Johnson aiming for March 2024, winter league

No mention of P/R

Says there's interest out there in creating new entities to join.

James Johnson confirms March 2024 as 'target date' for national second division

New entities would be interesting since they cant get protection from p and r into the npl

there probably shouldnt be any thought of p and r until we see how things go for a few years. There should also be promotion before relegation since 12 teams in the top flight is too small.

if the top team is going deep in the ffa cup without parking the bus and get crowds of 5000 promotion can happen quickly. However, even then Id like a few years of promoting 2 teams from the npl into the nsd and relegating just 1 until we have 16 teams in the nsd. 

5yrs on and on, EOI EOI EOI

Are you skeptical it will happen?

First Expression of Interest:



Newcastle Jets!

(just trollin')

Top 6 of the NSD is a realistic ambition for them... also trolling.

Very disappointed

Considering new entities suggests no immediate P/R to State League as requested by AAFC.

No Relegation means half a season of dead rubbers (just like the A-League) and the consequent loss of interest by all involved. 
Also tanking ala Victory

NOT the way to grow

In 2024 it will be another 2 years, so that's 7 years.........."WITH OR WITHOUT THE FFA"

Lol at the tin pot tough talk by the little clubs.

Not sure thats the case, we will see

Yeah, I don't see the logic. Just people jumping to conclusions based off of in-grained pessimism.

In the article, Johnson very explicitly focussed on the NSD having a point of difference to the A-League and being embedded in community football. He is leaning very strongly towards a winter season for this reason, and I imagine pro-rel with the NPL would be part of this, if not in the first season, then very soon after the comp starts up.

New entities in the NSD would be much leaner operations than their A-League equivalents, so there's no reason why they couldn't survive relgation to the NPL and then trying to win promotion back again. Gold Coast United is essentially a new entity in the Queensland NPL and they've done all right (although in fairness there have been other regional clubs that have not fared so well).

Wonder which new entities have expressed an interest. Could be any of the following:

- Canberra (although they would surely be gunning for an A-League spot)
- Hobart (same)
- Auckland (will NZ teams be allowed?)
- Townsville (distance issues)
- Cairns (same)
- Darwin (same)
- Ipswich
- Penrith
- Fremantle
- Geelong
- Ballarat (NPL team not doing so well)
- Bendigo (NPL team went belly-up)
- NSW north coast

Don't be surprised if some of those new entities are in large metropolitan centres, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

There has been low level talk coming out of Perth about a consortium. 
You may also find that Brisbane could be a potential new entity as there may be no EOI coming out of NPLQ.
Also Adelaide not sure if the current NPL Clubs are capitalised enough to be NSD ready.

Just what I'm hearing around the traps.

grazor, yer well been on the fence for so long is for all to see.
He talks the talk and has many other previous press releases going back.
6/7yrs to finally come up with a proposal/plan, ok this one quotes winter (thankfully) linking with normal grass roots and H/A again as it should bloody well be, confirm willing paying participants and standards met, granted that would take some dialog and submissions from Clubs intended and reviewed but surely shouldn't take so many years.
IF any business took this long going to market you have missed the boat.

Arthur, I did have thoughts that some of these NEW consortiums could even be 2/3 local Clubs combine as 1 obviously.
Kind of makes sense in Syd/Melb/Bris metros due to the numbers.
Perth as you mention pretty much the only way it could happen due to the geography/costs.

I feel your frustration and agree its taking far to long but at the end of the day I would rather it is set up correctly and most importantly to be successful and fruitful. Last think we want is another rushed plastic entertainment league in this country... So far JJ is approaching this with caution and reason, lets see what the EOIs bring eh?

Something about new entities, already got Western Utd. Now, Eastern Utd, Northern Utd and umm,,,Southern Utd.

Then there is Upper United and Lower United.

Create new clubs? Am I reading this correctly?

This will just drive another wedge between new football and old soccer.

How is this a good solution?

Could it show that old and new could have always worked together?  If you remember the first plan for the new National Soccer League that Lowy's Board commissioned married the best of the old NSL clubs with new clubs.  It was O'Neill that thought it wouldn't work and came up with the franchise league that unfortunately Lowy bought in to and so we got the new football A-League.

There was an Orana? bid in the A-League process at one stage. They were based around Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Wellington and Mudgee. There aim was the A-League but they were realistically  looking at a NSD as an eventual pathway     

If its sixteen bew clubs thats a problem. If its a quarter new clubs meh whatever. New clubs can pay a license fee to get a nice kitty for the division

Quite the opposite from my perspective mate.... Absolutely no issue, as I have said before, with 2,3 or even 4 clubs merging (provided it is done with the consent of their members) to form one new club with the funds and wherewithal to compete at a higher level.... 

Oh if only that was how it panned out........... breaks my heart what could have been.

But yet, a few here keep trashing Lowy.

We'll never know what could have been if Lowy had its way, but at the same time can understand John O'Neil's thought process. The NSL and its clubs was a failure. They carried baggage beyond belief, whether fair or unfair. No one wanted to touch them, TV, sponsors or mainstream.

Then came the opportunity to start afresh and Foxtel took the biggest gamble in their history. The code had one last chance. O'Neil could not leave any stone unturned, it had to succeed.

The wheels fell off the A-League when the FFA took its attention off the ball and focused on the world cup. The FFA failings was this, and in not taking the next steps to develop and progress the A-league further.

It was both Lowy and O'Neil that discarded the Crawford report recommendations. O'neil's decision at the time to go with 8 teams in a one team one city model at the time were justifiable because it was about consolidating the player pool into something marketable. We didn't have the pro player pool and most of the players abroad weren't coming home for the wages we could afford. You have to remember that the markets appetite for new franchises was exceptionally small, even though the price of entry was low. Melbourne victory ended up getting the nod for putting up 250k ffs

And so they should bag Lowy, he after all employed union and league types.
Following a failure doesn’t mean it’s all success with a new lord who had with his soldiers more so looked after  it’s own And yes the FFA and following are culpable as well.
Is this another Paulac multi 

I have heard that it was perhaps even less than this in the end but nevertheless it was definitely ALOT less than the PFA demands on NSD clubs to stump up 5 mill+........ 

How fucking hard is it? The second division is there to support the A league, and vice versa. Its not some glorified NPL completion, it doesn’t need a “point of difference” from the A league, it needs to run parallel to the A league, in summer, with the quickest transition to p and r as soon as practically possible. Running it in winter without p and r is a surefire recipe for low crowds and zero commercial interest. This will set p and r back 10 years, because the corporates will point to it and say “see it failed”.

hehe luv the usual suttle approach roooosty !

I disagree mate the NSD is NOT there to support the Aleague and I dont think FA wants it to either... The Aleague will remain a closed off, stand alone league for a long while yet... best the NSD and all hundreds of clubs below it can hope for is for all of US to be united... The Aleague can be run like a commercially viable franchise....If that's what APL and the investors want, that's what they should get... Which system "wins out" in the end, who can tell... lets just get it up and running first.